STEVEN DILWORTH

I am going to be building a labeling system into this website, but that won’t be available for at least a few months. I know there are companies that will take over printing your labels, but I don’t know any that will also figure out how to arrange the label. You could hire a designer to make your labels, but that would probably be expensive.

A…[Read more]

Usually when rules state that business supplies need to be kept separate, it means that they need to be in their own cupboard or own shelf. You should have a designated area where you put them, though that area doesn’t need to be cordoned off from everything else. If you store things in the fridge, you usually don’t need to have a separate fridge…[Read more]

From the law:

“Farm direct marketer” means an agricultural producer that sells farm direct products or producer processed products directly to the retail consumer.

I take that to mean that anyone can sell these types of goods, including a home gardener. That’s my interpretation — I’m not sure what’s the ag dept’s interpretation is.

1) I am really not sure about ghee, but I’m almost certain this would not be allowed. You need to call the ag dept for clarification.

2) This isn’t allowed under the cottage food law. You need special licensing to sell alcohol.

No — WA only allows high-sugar jams, jellies, and preserves, as well as fruit butters.

Yes, cupcakes are allowed.

When you bake a cake, the egg gets cooked into the batter and that’s allowed. Basically, if your product needs refrigeration, as would be the case with a custard, cheesecake, or cream pie, then it isn’t allowed. Standalone milk and dairy products, like yogurt, cheese, etc. are not allowed, but you can incorporate…[Read more]

For interstate sales of any food item, you need to make it in a commercial kitchen, not your home kitchen. You can call your health dept to learn about how to get licensed as a regular food business. If you only want to do intrastate sales, vanilla extract might be considered a cottage food, but I don’t know for sure for Oregon. That would also be…[Read more]

Brandy, I just found something that I had missed in the past: “A license is not required for a domestic kitchen type bakery that is operated in behalf of a nonprofit institution or is otherwise not operated for profit.”

So it looks like you’re good as long as you’re only doing baked items.

Here is a good video from Felicia Hill who setup the cottage food law in WA: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=3710115150063&set=vb.212823708752853&type=2&theater